Networks are growing at a tremendous speed. The world wide web (WWW) is a popular example. Currently, it is rather cumbersome to navigate through these networks, or even through one site of such a network, since the electronic content that is presented on pages (e.g., web pages) or decks (e.g., WAP decks) are published in a fixed structure that is designed to fit all needs. Even if computer systems on the user side were smart enough to know what a user is currently looking for, this would not help to solve this problem, due to the fixed structure of the electronic content and due to the way this content is presented.
There is software that can be used to realize applications where the web content is dynamically created. An example is IBM's WebSphere Application Server software. It allows building and deploying personalized, dynamic web content. Neither the fixed nor the dynamic content structure, however, takes the user's needs and intentions into account.
Users still have to search around a lot and navigate through uninteresting pages before they can successfully locate the desired electronic content (documents), if they are successful at all.
Another well-known problem is that many pages are not well maintained meaning that there are dead links and outdated information. This particular type of problem can be avoided if site management would be taken more seriously, but it is obviously not the user who is browsing the network who can control or influence this.
Yet another problem is that product names and company names are changing which in itself again leads to outdated information and links. It is also problematic when pages are moved or reorganized without updating links that reference these pages.
In most cases, there is no control authority or instance that watches over what is offered on the network. Hardly any editorial reviews are performed and anybody can go public by simply posting electronic content as he likes.
All these problems become more serious as the network grows. The more complex and convoluted the network structure gets, the more difficult it gets to hit those pages that contain information of interest.
There are solutions that try to overcome some of the aspects outlined above. Some pages are for example equipped with a site map that gives a user, once he has reached a particular site, a quick overview of the structure and organization of the respective site. It is a disadvantage of these site maps that they are static in the sense that they are hardly user customizable.
In view of the above, it is possible to formulate the following general design goals for future network generations: (1) enhanced site server functionality (e.g., by improving the software used on the server side); (2) enhanced page behavior; and (3) enhanced site architecture.
The problem with these general design goals is that their realization would involve different entities. A cooperation of these entities, however, is unlikely, since there are diverging interests for some of them. As with many ambitious projects, they are prone to fail.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a scheme that improves the navigation inside networks, and more specifically, that improves the identification and retrieval of pages that are considered to be of interest to or useful for the user.